Environmental sensor and method of operating the same
AssigneeVenturedyne, Ltd.
InventorsDavid L. Chandler, Glenn Y. Kozuma
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A gaseous-fluid environmental sensor having a gaseous-fluid flow system. The gaseous-fluid flow system, in one construction, includes a blower to move the gaseous fluid from an intake port to an exhaust port via a flow path. The gaseous-fluid environmental sensor further includes a controller coupled to a particle count sensor. The controller determines whether the particle count sensor has a fault based on the particle count sensor not sensing a particle or a cosmic ray in a time period.
Claims17
A gaseous-fluid environmental sensor, comprising:
- a gaseous-fluid flow system defining a flow path coupling an intake port to an exhaust port,
- a particle count sensor to sense particles in the fluid and a cosmic ray;
- a controller electrically coupled to the particle count sensor, the controller being configured to
- store a dark count,
- store a compensated particle count based on the signal from the particle count sensor and the dark count, and
- determine whether the particle count sensor has a fault based on the particle count sensor not sensing a particle or a cosmic ray in a time period.
A method of controlling a gaseous-fluid environmental sensor having a particle count sensor, the method comprising:
- creating a flow of fluid from a space through the gaseous-fluid environmental sensor;
- sensing particles in the fluid with the particle count sensor;
- sensing cosmic rays with the particle count sensor;
- storing a dark count;
- storing a compensated particle count based on the sensed particles, the sensed cosmic rays, and the stored dark count;
- determining whether the particle count sensor has a fault based on the particle count sensor not sensing a particle or a cosmic ray in a time period.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.